Protesters of the Supreme Court ruling on campaign spending in Richland, Wash., last week.

Written by

Tom Edmonds

Last week, the Mexican senate voted unanimously to "reform" their country's election laws. Now, elections can be nullified if candidates acquire more media coverage than the law allows. And they didn't stop there. Officials warned that "there will be grave consequences for those who commit the crime."

Unlike in the United States where campaign media expenditures are measured in billions of dollars, many countries place severe restrictions on campaign expenditures.

Mexico is far from the worst example of a government pretending to protect democracy by limiting paid political speech. ...